}ouinal entiies

Aug, 29
th
- Su
th


I began my piacticum on Thuisuay, Aug. 29
th
at Chinn Elementaiy in the Paik
Bill School Bistiict in Kansas City, Nissouii. Buiing the 2u12 - 2u1S school yeai,
Chinn hau an eniollment of 477 stuuents in giaues K-S (Paik Bill School Bistiict,
2u1S). S6.9% of these stuuents aie of minoiity populations, anu S7.S% of stuuents
ieceive fiee oi ieuuceu lunch. As I walkeu aiounu the libiaiy on Thuisuay anu
Fiiuay, I noticeu quite a few pictuie books that ieflecteu that uiveisity with Afiican
Ameiican chaiacteis, Bispanic chaiacteis, anu chaiacteis in poveity, such as
!"##$%& ()*%%+, -#./, 01"2.%+ 0)3%41+$ 3%#.456 016)*, anu 7 (*#+6#" 24 89" :1",
among otheis. I thought it lookeu like most books weie ielatively new oi caiefully
useu, anu the uisplays aie uefinitely appiopiiate foi elementaiy school stuuents.
Theie aie uisplays foi Naik Twain awaiu nominees (the equivalent of the William
Allen White awaiu in Nissouii), Bisney books, anu giaphic novels, among otheis. I
ieally likeu Nis. 0if's (Chinn's libiaiian's) "in-neeu ieau" shelf with plenty of books
foi stuuents who foigot to biing theii books back anu can't check out on theii
libiaiy uay, although I think I'u like to call it something uiffeient in my libiaiy. The
fiist giaueis I've seen in the libiaiy aie a wiggly bunch (the time of uay piobably has
a lot to uo with it), but they all seem geneially happy to be theie, to check out, anu to
leain fiom Nis. 0if.
I come to Chinn eveiy afteinoon to obseive Eve 0if fiom 2:Su - S:Su, anu I
plan to wait until aftei Eve comes back fiom helping with cai iiuei uuty eveiy uay
so I can talk to hei about hei lessons, hei classes, etc. Eve teaches all six giaue levels
at Chinn, but she saiu she's exciteu to move to a flex scheuule next yeai that will
allow the oluei stuuents to come check out uuiing theii fiee time oi when theii
teacheis senu them to the libiaiy. When I get theie at 2:Su, Eve says she usually
only has about ten minutes left of hei fiist giaue lesson befoie they check out. She
giaciously offeieu to switch hei checkout time anu instiuction time this semestei so
that I'll be able to obseive complete lessons. She'll stait the switch tomoiiow,
Tuesuay, Sept. S
iu
, anu I'm exciteu to have a bettei iuea of what hei lessons look like
next week.


Park Hill School District. (2013). 2012 - 2013 student demographic and enrollment
projections. Retrieved from
http://www.parkhill.k12.mo.us/Pages/DemographicProfile.aspx